As NFL teams are reporting to Training Camp, I want to take a moment and look at the CFL standings this morning because the CFL regular season is nearing the half-way mark. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have dominated the West Division for the last 5 years. Ignoring the 2020 season which was cancelled due to COVID, Winnipeg has won the West for four straight years with a combined regular season record of 51-17-0; the team has gone on in the playoffs to be the West representative in the Grey Cup game in each of those seasons. It looks, however, as if 2024 is not the Blue Bombers’ year.
As of this morning, Winnipeg is in fourth place in the CFL West (there are 5 teams in that division) with a record of 2-5-0; only the Edmonton Elks have a worse record in the division at 0-6-0. The Saskatchewan Roughriders lead the West today with a 5-1 record.
A potentially interesting situation exists in the East Division. The defending Grey Cup champions – – Montreal Alouettes – – lead the East at 5-1-0; the Toronto Argonauts are in third place at 3-3-0. However, the Argonauts will get their starting QB – – Chad Kelly – – back from suspension after the Argonauts’ eighth game and Kelly is the reigning league MVP. The two teams have met twice so far this year and have split those two games; they will meet one more time on September 28th; I think that could be a game to circle on the calendar.
Moving on … Last week, I mentioned that George Blanda threw 42 INTs in a 14-game season back in AFL days and that the Houston Oilers went 11-3 despite all those INTs. I can now expand on that comment thanks to a note from the “reader in Houston”:
“George has the NFL/AFL record for most INTs (6) in a game for a team that won:
“In the 1962 season opener, Houston was at the Bills. George finished the game 15–30 for 188 yards and a TD with six INTs, but the Oilers took the win that day with a final score of 28–23. One out of every five passes he made that day were intercepted.
“As a matter of fact, George also led the AFL in INTs in 1963-65 with 25, 27, and 30 respectively.”
Next up … Another reader forwarded to me a posting on X.com by someone whose screen name is ‘Barry”. Clearly, “Barry” is someone who enjoys over-analysis of the English language leading to concocted offensive phrases. Here is the post from “Barry”:
“Reminder that the term “Home Run” is incredibly offensive to homeless people, people in wheelchairs and especially homeless people in wheelchairs.”
Well played, “Barry”. I hope your note comes to the attention of Commissioner Manfred and that it causes him agita.
And speaking of MLB Commissioner Manfred, I found this comment in Bob Molinaro’s column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:
“Not so fast: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is smart to hold off on robot umpires until at least 2026, until ‘technical issues surrounding the definition of the strike zone’ can be ironed out. Not, I’m guessing, that they can ever be ironed out to the satisfaction of every player.
“Wondering: Do robotic ball and strike calls generally favor hitters or pitchers?”
I don’t know if the “Ball/Strike Bots” will favor pitchers or hitters, but I suspect that the “Bots” will remove one of the more ridiculous aspects of the game. Gone will be the days when the batter starts to argue balls and strikes with the umpire and that tete a tete leads to a fulmination by the manager at the umpire which involves kicking dirt all over home plate and ejection city. There won’t be any person there to receive the fulmination; the player and or the manager would look pretty stupid arguing with invisible detectors and circuitry. Personally, I will not miss that sort of silliness even a little bit.
Finally, words of wisdom from Mark Twain:
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
I believe the robots will cause more strikes to be called. Umpires tend to call balls on breaking pitches to the low-inside and low -outside parts of the strike zone. They also miss strikes that are witin the high-inside and high-outside corners of the zone. The practical strike zone box tends to have rounded corners. This is why “framing” has become such a high priority catching skill. The catchers now work very hard not to ride these close pitches out of the zone.
The major problem with robotic balls and strikes is the upper and lower boundaries of a batter’s zone. The low knee and the midpoint between the armpits and belt WHEN THE BATTER IS READY TO SWING are not clearly marked. It takes judgment to set these up properly and fairly in the robotic system. So robots will not remove judgment completely from ball and strike calls.
By the way, long gone are the days when umps could routinely call strikes on pitches several inches outside. MLB umpires now receive a performance rating after every game.
Gil:
As a former umpire at an advanced level, thanks for that commentary…